Keeping up with the startups

Over the past 10 years, there’s been a mass migration of people moving to work in startups. But with the recent hiring freezes and cutbacks, is the honeymoon period over?

Meanwhile, legacy companies offer major career opportunities but are struggling to hire the best product people. Now’s the time for them to look for – and learn how to keep – a winning team.

If you’re considering working in product at a legacy business, what should you be hunting for? And what are hiring managers looking for in their future product teams?

Becki Lake, Head of Product at BT Group
Becki is a customer-centric Product Leader who's passionate about making the world a better place through optimising technology for everyone. Across her experience at startups and leaders including Vodafone and Public Health England, Becky has brought world-leading and award-winning B2B and B2C products to market at global scale.

Ben Elliott, Founder and CEO at Found By Few
Ben heads up Design & Product recruitment at Found by Few, a next-generation recruitment company changing the tech industry for the better. Over his 15 years in tech recruitment, Ben has led with an honest, consultative and friendly approach, resulting in long-term successful relationships with clients and industry names.

Yshira Kelly, Product Lead at LEGO Group
Yshira is a senior product manager at LEGO Group where she's part of Shopper Engagement, a high-impact team that's aimed at making every customer interaction amazing through personalisation and discovery. She loves to tackle idea validation in a way that leads to more experiments, more iteration and ultimately more innovation.

Serena Chana, Product Manager at GoCardless
Serena pivoted from marketing to product management after discovering her love for tech at a woman’s coding school. Before GoCardless she worked at award-winning, mission-driven start-ups delivering impactful products to customers across the globe. Serena is fuelled by her passion to create a more inclusive and equitable society by building for everyone.

Sophie Aspden, People Lead at Planes
Sophie cares about creating an equitable workplace where everyone feels like they can bring their best selves to work. An expert in growing healthy teams at scaling startups, Sophie believes in giving people more choice in the workplace to improve psychological safety and help build trust.

8:30am – Breakfast & meeting everyone

9:00am – Discussion 1: What are the challenges of hiring a product team at a legacy business?

9:30am – Discussion 2: What’s it actually like working in a brilliant product team at a big business?

9:55am – Wrap up